The head of children’s services in Rotherham has defended the decision to remove three ethnic minority children from foster parents, saying that their affiliation to the UK Independence Party (Ukip) meant they opposed ‘multiculturalism.’

Joyce Thacker, Rotherham Borough Council’s director of children and young people’s services, said the children’s ‘cultural and ethnic needs’ did not fit with the parent’s ‘strong views.’

Her views were widely condemned this weekend by campaigners and MPs across the political divide. Education Secretary Michael Gove called the decision ‘wrong’ and ‘indefensible’ while Labour leader Ed Miliband called for an urgent investigation.

U-turn: Joyce Thacker, Rotherham Borough Council's head of children's services, said in November that social workers had been right to remove three children from the care of their UKIP member foster parents, but now the council has admitted that party membership was not a valid reason to take action

But Mrs Thacker said: ‘These children have previously been in our care and we were severely criticised by the courts in terms of not meeting their cultural and ethnic needs.

‘We took the decision, having placed them in emergency foster care, that we would really have to think long-term about their needs being met.

‘So when it became clear to us that the couple had political affiliations to Ukip we had to seriously think about the longer term needs of the children.

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‘We have to think about their clear statement on ending multiculturalism, for example. The children were from EU migrant backgrounds and Ukip has very clear statements on ending multiculturalism, which might be sensitive to these children.’

She said there was no ‘quality of care’ issue with the couple – the husband is a former Navy reservist who works with disabled people and the wife is a qualified nursery nurse – only that they were Ukip members.

The couple, who do not want to be named to avoid identifying the children, are in their fifties and have been approved foster carers for seven years, looking after about a dozen children.

They took care of the three children – a baby girl, a boy and an older girl, from a troubled family background – in September in an emergency placement.

'Wrong': Education Secretary Michael Gove said social workers at the council had made 'the wrong decision in the wrong way for the wrong reasons'

The couple were described as ‘exemplary’ and they believe the children thrived in their care. The baby gained weight and the older girl started calling them ‘mum and dad’, according the reports.

But eight weeks into the placement, they were visited by a social worker and an official from their fostering agency following an anonymous tip-off that they were Ukip members.

The social worker told them: ‘We would not have placed these children with you had we known you were members of Ukip because it wouldn’t have been the right cultural match.’

Responding to Mrs Thacker’s comments last night, the couple said: ‘Joyce Thacker referred to us not being able to meet the cultural needs of these children in the long term. We felt we were meeting their cultural needs.

‘We were encouraging them to speak their language and teach it to us. We enjoyed singing one of their folk songs in their language. We also took steps to ensure that a school of their religious denomination was found.’

The wife added: ‘We felt like criminals. From having a baby in my arms, suddenly there was an empty cot.’

She denied that there had been any discussion between the family and Rotherham Council before the children were removed.

The
woman said the council feared the couple could not meet the children's
cultural needs in the long term - a claim the family denied.

It came after the decision was strongly condemned by Mr Gove, who said social workers had made 'the wrong decision in the wrong way for the wrong reasons' and said he would be personally investigating the matter.

Mr Gove, who heads the Government department responsible for children's services and who was himself adopted as a child, accused Rotherham of sending out a 'dreadful signal'.

'Rotherham council have made the wrong decision in the wrong way for the wrong reasons,' he said.

'Rotherham's reasons for denying this family the chance to foster are indefensible.

'The ideology behind their decision is actively harmful to children. We should not allow considerations of ethnic or cultural background to prevent children being placed with loving and stable families. We need more parents to foster, and many more to adopt.

'Any council which decides that supporting a mainstream UK political party disbars an individual from looking after children in care is sending a dreadful signal that will only decrease the number of loving homes available to children in need.

'I will be investigating just how this decision came to be made and what steps we need to take to deal with this situation.'

Roger Stone, leader of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, today said 'We are going to investigate to make sure everything has been done professionally. If the professionals give advice, we take it.

Inquiry: Roger Stone, Rotherham council leader, announced an investigation into the decision

'We are going to investigate - we always would if somebody complains. We are looking to make sure all the correct procedures were carried out before the decision was made. There is no policy, as has been implied, that if you are a British National Party member you can't foster children.'

Referring to the Prime Minister, he told the Sky News Murnaghan programme: 'If he wants an electoral war with my party on his immigration open-door policy, he can have one.

'We have a problem with having a total open door to a relatively poor series of countries, something we've never done in the entire history of this country. What we've had since 2005 is a massive over-supply in the unskilled labour market, and what that means is that at a time of youth unemployment at 21 per cent in Britain, it does not make sense to have an open door.'

Referring to the foster case, he branded the Labour-controlled council's behaviour an 'absolute outrage'.

Mr Farage said: 'If you talk about these particular people whose identities have been protected I'm pleased to say, they have been fostering for the last seven years. They have been giving those children love, care and attention and the opportunity to thrive in this country.

'They've respected the culture from which they came but they've also been doing everything they can to teach them English so that they can integrate and do well at school.

'Surely we need more people out there fostering kids like this. I think the way this Labour-controlled council have behaved is an absolute outrage.

'The idea that Ukip is a racist outfit is rubbish.'

Outage: Nigel Farage (left) described the actions as an 'outrage' and said the idea of Ukip as a racist party was 'rubbish' while Ed Miliband (right) said membership of the party should not be a bar to fostering

Labour
have urged the council to mount an urgent investigation. Labour leader
Ed Miliband said: 'Being a member of Ukip should not be a bar to
adopting or fostering children. We need an urgent investigation by
Rotherham Council into the circumstances of this case.

'I
don't know all the facts of this case but I am clear, what matters is
children in Rotherham and elsewhere, and being a member of a political
party like Ukip should not be a bar to fostering children.

We need to
find out the facts and the council urgently needs to get to the bottom
of exactly what happened. The couple concerned are making extremely
serious claims, very disturbing claims.

'Right-thinking
people across the country will think there are thousands of children
who need to be looked after, who need fostering, we shouldn't have the
situation where membership of a party like Ukip excludes you from doing
that. We need loving homes for children across the country. That can
come in different forms, it's not about what political party you are a
member of.'

Foster parent campaigners have warned that the decision could discourage other prospective foster parents volunteering.

Standing by its decision: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (above) maintained that the removal of the siblings was in their 'best interests'

David Goosey, the chairman of trustees at independent fostering charity Community
Foster care said: 'If this is accurate and there are no other
extraneous matters that have concerned the authorities, then it is
completely ridiculous and no self-respecting authority should be
stopping people fostering on the grounds of their membership of Ukip.'

UKIP’s manifesto is critical of multiculturalism and
political correctness. It also urges Britain to restriction immigration and for
the country to withdraw from Europe.

Recent national polls rate the party’s support as high as
nine per cent after previously being considered a single-issue fringe party.

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We were RIGHT to take foster children away from Ukip couple insists social workers